DuPont Innovation Centers: Gateways to Customer Collaborations

DuPont News, August 13, 2012

The DuPont Japan Innovation Center.

The DuPont Automotive Center (DAC) in Nagoya, Japan, recently was renamed as the DuPont Japan Innovation Center to reflect its expanded role and broader capability to support customers beyond the automotive industry.

At a press conference to announce the expansion, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Tom Connelly and DuPont KK Japan President Minoru Amoh gave an interview to the Nikkei Business Daily, Japan’s most influential business publication. Headlined “DuPont Expanding the Nagoya Model Worldwide,” the story focuses on setting up the DAC and why the company is extending the model around the world.

The DAC was established in 2005 with the objective of better serving the automotive industry and creating new business through collaboration with key industry participants. In the past six years, the DAC has been the host to more than 9,400 visitors and generated almost 370 new product innovations for automotive customers.

“Sales of products developed from these projects have already reached around $60 million,” Amoh said.

Tom said the center in Nagoya has been very successful in serving customers beyond the automotive industry because it provides an interactive place for our scientists and customers to create innovative solutions that meet industry needs.

“Inventions occur in laboratories, while innovation takes place in the markets,” he said. “We can’t produce anything of direct value in laboratories.”

Learning from the DAC’s success, DuPont developed the concept of an innovation center with a broadened focus on multiple industries, such as agriculture, food, packaging, electronic materials, alternative energy and industrial biosciences. Currently, the company has seven innovation centers around the world, with five in Asia and two in Latin America.

“The increase in the number of such centers enables us to expand our network,” Tom said. “The Innovation Centers have become the gateway for DuPont to locate around the world, which improves convenience for our clients.”